Robotic surgical systems, such as, for example, a da Vinci® Surgical system have been used in minimally invasive medical procedures. Some robotic surgical systems include a console supporting a robot arm and a surgical instrument or at least one end effector that includes forceps or a grasping tool that is mounted to the robot arm. The robot arm provides mechanical power to the surgical instrument for its operation and movement. Each robot arm may include an instrument drive unit having a mechanical interface that is operatively connected to a corresponding mechanical interface of the surgical instrument.
Prior to or during use of the robotic system, surgical instruments are selected and connected to the instrument drive units of each robot arm. For proper installation to be completed, certain connecting features of the surgical instrument must be matingly engaged to corresponding connecting features of the instrument drive unit. Once these features are matingly engaged, the instrument drive unit can drive the actuation of the surgical attachment. However, the position and orientation of the connecting features of the surgical instrument relative to the connecting features of the instrument drive unit are often unknown, which makes aligning the connecting features with one another difficult.
Accordingly, before the surgical instrument can be considered properly connected to the instrument drive unit, the surgical system must calibrate the position of the connecting features of the surgical instrument relative to the position of the connecting features of the instrument drive unit. This is sometimes accomplished by rotating the connecting features of the instrument drive unit back and forth until the connecting features of the instrument drive unit find the corresponding connecting features of the surgical instrument. This trial and error approach to installing the surgical instrument with the instrument drive unit can be difficult, time consuming and problematic.
Therefore, there is a need for a more precise and efficient approach to connecting an instrument drive unit and a surgical instrument that, inter alia, obviates the need for calibration.